This is one of my very favourite winter dishes. So much so, that I frequently make it at other times of the year also. I love it because of the combination of ordinary ingredients which come together in a gloriously rich and flavourful meal-in-a-dish. Which is another reason to love it – zero effort in the evening when you’re tired, cold and hungry. If you make this in individual ceramic dishes like in the top left of the picture, you can freeze them and just pull one out in the morning before work. At night you can heat it up in the microwave and toast the top under the grill and be sitting down to dine in less than 10 minutes. Beautiful.

I can’t even put my finger on precisely what makes this such an enjoyable meal. I think perhaps it’s just the combination of the brightness of fresh tomato with the beef in combination with the carrots and the buttery parsnip: rich, sweet and as comforting a Cottage Pie, but with a savoury twist.

This is an adaptation of a recipe in Mighty Mince (1980) by Jane Todd. It is packed with terrific recipes like this once for every kind dish, both British and from further afield, using beef, lamb, pork and veal mince. I would even go so far as to deem it Invaluable™. It turns up with surprising regularity in my local charity shops and car boot sales and I always buy every copy I come across and pass them on to friends and family, because it’s such a joy to have on the shelf.

Back to the recipe – it’s a root vegetable feast. Which means you can also play fast and loose with which ones you use. As already mentioned the carrot and parsnip are a particularly fine pairing, but don’t forget about swede, turnip, beetroot and celeriac. I’ve only tweaked this slightly – adding in some Worcestershire Sauce and sprinkling the topping directly onto the beef filling.

It’s especially popular with the young, with even my reluctant vegetable consumer daughter recently declaring (despite having eaten it many times in the past) “It’s a lot better than I thought it was going to be.”

So, my oven died. The main one. I have two, but the top one is even deader. After that went, I was able to limp along for a few weeks making toast with only one of the grill elements working, but then that conked out. With the main oven now gone, I am oven-less. On the plus side, I now have somewhere to dry metalware without it cluttering up the worktop.

Replacing the oven was more challenging than kitchen appliance websites wold have you believe.

Next day delivery? Sure! Not a problem. Relax. We can have your new oven with you tomorrow – just pick a delivery slot.

Oh, you want it connected? *sharp intake of breath*

Wellllll…….that’s going to be a while.

I was initially fretting over what was going to happen with the blog, with no oven. Then I reminded myself that Stuff™ happens and it’s not the end of the world. I have a working ( for now) gas hob, so rather than do the whole wailing/gnashing of teeth/rending of clothes at our oven-less-ness, for the forseeable future we’re going to be looking at stove-top recipes instead.

With all the frosty weather of late, this chilli is as fine a place to start as any.

It’s a bit of a deviation from the traditional, but in a very delicious way. I found a recipe that sounded nice, I decided to make it, I didn’t have several of the ingredients so I improvised with what I did have, and Voila, Chilli!

Guinness & Chocolate Chilli

This makes a large batch. Depending on your appetite, probably 6-8 adult portions. This recipe has no beans, but you can always add some to make it stretch further, or even just because you like them. I suggest freezing it without the beans and adding them only when preparing it for a meal.

For minimal washing up, choose a pan large enough to accommodate all the ingredents and it’ll be the only one you need.